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Chapter 3
Third Bone: "Change the World: Believe in Tomorrow and Run" is the third chapter of [[Manga|the manga B. Ichi]]. It is collected as part of Volume 1. Featured Appearances Plot Chugoku (Past) Mana narrates that her family has always been proficient in martial arts passed through their family-yet he was thought too weak to practice, so he was left alone to practice a style of kenpo called Hinoki Ryu. Her perceived weakness made her the mockery of other children, especially after she lost a rank test against Hepokichi, a recent practitioner. Mana therefore resolved to feign cheerfulness to get through the insults. Outside Christina S. Imbroglia’s Fortune Telling Shop (Present) Mana exits Christina S. Imbroglia’s fortune telling shop, worried about what Christina had said: Shotaro is dangerous, and his darkness must be resolved before Mana can properly befriend him. Mana then sighs, finding that Shotaro is not waiting for her--which leads her to exclaim that “it’s not like I’m all that important.” Instead, she finds Yohei Nanami, seated on the road and studying his Jeep. His laptop is next to him, recording an episode of ‘’Justice’’ broadcasted on Channel 10. Yohei approaches her by name with a letter from Shotaro. Unfortunately, Mana cannot read Shotaro’s scribbling and doodle, so Yohei explains that the young dokeshi is repairing the burger stand destroyed by Solence’s gang and will return in an hour. Shotaro also had asked Yohei to record ‘’Justice’’ for him. Having passed along the message, Yohei returns to repairing his Jeep. But as Mana notices Yohei smoking, she worries he may be an indication that Shotaro really is a bad person. Yohei senses Mana studying him and asks what she wants. Embarrassed, Mana simply says that smoking is bad and departs. Seemingly amused, Yohei smiles and observes that she and Shotaro are similar: “Weird girl. I guess it’s true what they say: birds of a feather flock together…” Wandering through town, Mana worries whether Yohei does indeed indicate Shotaro is bad. But she also admonishes herself for not being as cheerful as she thinks she should be. Seeing Toykyo Tower nearby, Mana considers climbing it. Elsewhere, Solence, although injured, survived the explosion Yohei ignited during their high-speed pursuit. He has removed his mask, struggling to breath and worried that, after 16 years working for Fear Factory he allowed a brat like Shotaro to stop him. Solence then sees Toykyo Tower--and like Mana considers climbing it. Toykyo Tower Mana and Solence both stand at the same elevator to Toykyo Tower. Both sigh. Upon reaching the observation tower to look at the skyline, Solence is still worried. Meanwhile, Mana’s admiration of the view gives way to thoughts about why she loves fortune telling: she concludes it is because it is a practice in which other people can make decisions for her. “I’ve always been all by myself, and fortune-telling is the only thing that gives me answers.” She worries how she has never made a friend, that Shotaro is the only person she has conversed with naturally, but now the opportunity to befriend Shotaro may fail. She also wants to help Shotaro find his long-lost friend Emine, to learn why Shotaro is keen on reuniting. But upon remembering Christina’s warning that she conveys what fortune shows her, Mana sighs. Next to her, Solence is disappointed as well. He criticizes Yohei for not appreciating how he feels working in middle-management: his bosses over-work him, and his employees mock him. He becomes hysterical, realizing he is pulled in both directions by bosses and employees, much like how Yohei and shotaro pinned him on both sides in their car chase. He becomes afraid that the Fear Factory will “downsize” him. Solence then screams aloud how he will not let the Fear Factory downsize him, which surprises nearby bystanders like Mana. Furious, Solence performs Generate Sleeping Gas, intending to “downsize” everyone around him before avenging himself against the Fear Factory, Yohei, and Shotaro. Mana and the bystanders pass out from the sleeping gas, while Solence continues to rant and perform Anger Blast and Bus Gas Blast. Outside Christina S. Imbroglia’s Fortune Telling Shop Yohei is under his Jeep to perform repairs. He then hears his laptop announcing breaking news. He opens the computer to watch the television network GNN, which announces that Solence is holding hostages at the Toykyo Tower observation deck. GNN shows footage from security cameras of Solence screaming at Yohei for denying him the monster robot computer chip. Yohei smiles as Solence says he will not be needing the computer chip. But then Solence announces to Yohei that NoFix, “the guy you thought you hunted down, is still alive” and likely joining Fear Factory. Yohei, nervous, tries to remove a cigarette but ends up biting it in half. He worries that, if NoFix gets his hands on the Fear Robot he designed for the Factory, then he can make it operational. Yohei spits out his cigarette and determines to meet Solence in person to interrogate him about NoFix’s location. Because Solence’s gas can be dangerous, upon seeing Mana’s scooter parked nearby, he decides to re-fashion it into an “anti-Solence gadget.” Outside Christina S. Imbroglia’s Fortune Telling Shop (Later) Shotaro returns but finds both Mana and Yohei are gone. While Yohei’s Jeep is gone, Shotaro notices Mana’s scooter remains (although he overlooks that the scooter is now disassembled). Shotaro removes his Bone Bag to retrieve Bone of the Dog to hunt Mana’s perfume. Searching through his bag, he finds another item that he says “will work” in locating his friends. Toykyo Tower With his canine powers, Shotaro avoids detection from police blocking bystanders from entering the tower. He arrives at the elevator where he finds Yohei, who is planning to “improvise” a way to get to the observation deck. Yohei asks whether Shotaro is here to stop Solence, which causes both of them to realize Mana was taken hostage. Yohei then notices something in Shotaro’s hand, which the boy says belongs to Mana but which he does not recognized. Amused, Yohei lies and claims the item is a fashion accessory for his head. Impressed, Shotaro gets ready to put it on. Observation Deck The hostages have awakened from the sleeping gas to find their legs and hands tied together. Standing above the hostages, Solence promises to kill them as part of his murder-suicide plot. It is just a matter of which gas he should use to kill them all: poison gas or explosive hydrogen. Solence seizes one hostage by the collar and, when he cannot answer how he wants to die, knocks him to the floor. Before Solence can kick the hostage, Mana rushes at the dokeshi. Solence responds by kicking Mana in the head. Knocked to the floor, Mana thinks how, if Solence is a dokeshi like Shotaro, then there is a chance her new friend could become evil, too. and Shotaro (wearing Mana's bra) arrive]]Solence and Mana are then distracted by the sound of the elevator arriving to the observation deck. The doors open to reveal Yohei, with a device he constructed from Mana’s scooter, and Shotaro, who is wearing Mana’s bra on his forehead like goggles. While Mana recognizes her bra, the hostages all call Shotaro a pervert. Shotaro is overjoyed to see the hostages are alive, but Mana’s head is steaming in embarrassment and anger: despite being bound, she leaps up and kicks Shotaro into the elevator, knocking the bra off his head. The elevator’s doors close, sending Shotaro back downstairs. Yohei simply stands aside to smoke, asking what Shotaro did to bother Mana. Upon seeing Yohei again, Mana jumps in fear of him and shuffles back to the hostages--which surprises at least one of them. Solence welcomes Yohei, but the latter is not amused: he demands to know whether Nofix, “the King of Spin,” is still alive. Solence mocks Yohei for being a “softy.” Despite how powerful Yohei’s inventions can be, he refuses to make his weapons lethal, much like how he refused to kill Nofix and even Solence. Therefore, Solence concludes, Yohei’s refusal to kill will actually lead to more deaths. Mana listens to Yohei’s reply to Solence and notices an inconsistency: he replies that he is willing to kill Solence if necessary but that he is not interested in making weapons because they serve only one purpose, which is to kill. Mana hence realizes that while Yohei seems tough, he actually may be a good guy. Yohei is then interrupted by a bespectacled hostage crawling towards him, begging that he remove the ropes around his hands and feet. Yohei simply kicks the hostage in the face, knocking off his glasses and threatening to kill him. Mana and the other hostages stare in horror as Yohei kicks him again for interrupting his conversation with Solence, which only confuses Mana. Surprised at Yohei kicking a hostage, Solence interrupts that Yohei should try to get along with the hostage since he is going to poison all of them together. Yohei takes some offense that the dokeshi is lumping him in with the set of hostages, but Solence promises that he thinks Yohei to be as important to him as menma is to ramen. As Solence releases poison gas out his nose, Yohei reminds Solence that menma is only a condiment for ramen, but Solence disagrees, thinking the condiment, and Yohei, are most important. sucks up Solence's poison]] Yohei grabs the starter cord on the anti-Solence device he constructed, which causes its fans to blow. He then takes hold of the vacuum cleaner-like nozzle and proceeds to suck all of Solence’s poison before it can permeate throughout the observation deck. Yohei explains to the surprised Solence how his gadget works: first, Yohei’s laptop analyzes the components of the dokeshi’s gases; second, the device releases gases from its attached containers to neutralize the gas; and finally, the now neutralized gas is released back into the room. Yohei removes his handgun to aim at Solence. The dokeshi calls Yohei’s bluff before opening his jacket to reveal he has strapped a bomb to his chest. Solence brags that they are all going to die, whether by poison or by explosion as he claims they will all “explode into laugher.” Yohei puts down his handgun, recognizing that his bullet would set off the bomb. Yohei then hears his device sputtering, as it can no longer convert all the gas that Solence releases. Solence continues to laugh (and mentions he would rather stay single). Yohei then hears the elevator next to him ding. Mana and Solence anticipate Shotaro is returning. When the doors open, however, no one is inside. Solence cackles that Shotaro has abandoned his friends. But Yohei, seeing something outside the observation deck’s windows, smiles. What he sees is Shotaro, using his Bone of Bird powers to fly into the room and kick through the window. Shotaro asks whether his friends are okay, but Yohei directs Shotaro to disable Solence now. defeats Solence with Justice Blade]] Furious, Solence backs away towards the hostages, grabbing the detonator. As he walks back towards Mana, however, she lies on the floor and kicks upward, knocking the detonator out of his hand. Shotaro then performs Justice Blade to slam Solence’s shoulders, knocking the opponent to the floor. Police enter the observation deck, but Yohei assures them that the hostage-taker Solence has been defeated. Shotaro approaches Mana, asking whether she is okay. As he struggles to untie her--and accidentally ties up himself--Mana realizes that although Shotaro is dangerous, she is the first person she has befriended, and she did decide to be more cheerful. Freed of her ropes, Mana retrieves Shotaro’s letter to her. She thinks that, while she believes in fortune-telling because she wants to believe what people say, she also realizes that not every fortune is accurate. Mana then asks Shotaro to explain what his scribbled letter says, but he even he cannot remember. Outside Christina S. Imbroglia’s Fortune Telling Shop Mana screams in horror upon seeing her scooter disassembled--which Shotaro finally notices. Sobbing, Mana seizes Shotaro by his face, asking how he could take her bra and then wreck her scooter. While Shotaro is confused, Yohei attempts to scamper away with the anti-Solence device he constructed from her vehicle. But Mana, seeing her own name written on Yohei’s device, realizes the truth. Yohei tosses the device to her and says he is leaving for Tube to stop Nofix. Mana is not satisfied, refusing to let Yohei go. Yohei mocks Mana for writing her name on her scooter, then suggests she probably wrote her name on her “not sexy” underwear. Mana is outraged, so Yohei tells Shotaro to pull her underwear out of her bag to confirm. Mana knocks Shotaro to the street to prevent him from doing so. But even as she is furious, Mana smiles, thinking that, if Emine could befriend Shotaro, then what kind of person is he. Emine’s Cathedral Lin-Kemper finishes polishing an apple before handing it to Apple Shinoda. Apple, however, is concerned about the Fear Factory’s actions and wishes to know how Emine will respond. Donning a pumpkin-shaped hat and wearing a long, tattered jacket, Emine asks Apple to take him to the Factory so he may “crush it.” Trivia *Kenpo refers to various martial arts. In Japanese usage, it typically refers to Chinese martial arts.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 1, Chapter 3, Yen Press English eBook, Pages 139, 190 *Hinoki Ryu refers to the martial arts style originated by the Hinoki family. *Toykyo Tower, much as Toykyo is a parody of Tokyo, is a parody of the real-world Tokyo Tower, a famous landmark resembling Paris's Eiffel Tower.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 1, Chapter 3, Yen Press English eBook, Pages 146, 190 *Menma, which Solence calls Yohei, is dried bamboo used as a condiment for noodles.B. Ichi Manga: Volume 1, Chapter 3, Yen Press English eBook, Pages 167, 190 *When describing his poisoning of the hostages, Solence makes the malapropism, "I'm still single," which is a pun in the original Japanese, referring to his poisoning of the hostages. "Dokushin" is Japanese for "single," and "dokushi" is Japanese for "death by poison."B. Ichi Manga: Volume 1, Chapter 3, Yen Press English eBook, Pages 171, 190 *The shirt of one hostage reads “Bird Man.” References Site Navigation Category:Chapters